90 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 18, 1858. 
corn. You may have the pod and the seed in good 
order, after moving the Tulip two or three times, since 
it started to grow; but you will want the young Potato- 
like increase at the root,—the crop of new bulbs,—if 
you disturb the old “ root ” from the time it begins to 
throw up the llower-stalk till the young bulbs are 
hatched. 
Some people are so clever and knowing, that they 
could change, and alter, and do many odd things with 
eggs every day while the hen was sitting, and some 
florists and floristical gardeners are just as far up in 
the mark with Tulips, and all manner of bulbs ; they 
can do anything with them at anytime they have a 
! mind, and no harm comes of it; but for ordinary 
people, the safest way is to let well alone, and especially 
to let the Tulips have their natural way, as no one can 
tell the very day the young Tulips are hatched, or 
come into life, and are safe after that, because that 
entirely depends on the season, and the kind of Tulip. 
I have a Tulip secretary, one of the most scientific 
Tulip writers in England, if I am to believe in the 
consummate skill of Dr. Lindley, or in the natural 
sagacity of Sir Joseph Paxton; his name is Mr. "VY. 
Wood, “the scientific writer,” and his last thoughts 
and doings among the spring bulbs will be found in 
another page. 
I have another secretary, who is also in the flower 
confidence of a peeress, who is, herself, a first authority 
in taste and judgment in the flower garden; he has 
told me, just at the eleventh hour, that they designed 
something new last season, and have been preparing to 
bring it out this summer, that if I go into the country 
to see it in its prime, I shall be allowed to say what I 
think of it, whether good or not good, with their names 
and the name of the place. It is a new ribbon on a 
very long border, which I think is straight, and so 
situated, that a person standing on the walk in front of 
it, would have his, or her shadow parallel to the lines 
in the ribbon, about half-past three in the afternoon, 
I inquired particularly about that, as I am confident a 
great deal depends on the meridian of a flower-bed, or 
flower garden, or a flower border. The meridian of 
that border is half-past three in the afternoon, and a 
stranger going along the walk at that half hour, with 
the sun directly at the back of the head, would get the 
best telling view of the new ribbon. 
It is a decided misfortune when one is compelled to 
bring company along a flower garden against the sun. 
Two most able critics visit the same flower garden at 
different times of the same day ; the one reports most 
favourably of all lie sees, the other can see little to 
praise; the difference is owing to the different points 
from which the sun-light struck upon the garden at 
the time of the visits ; therefore, that is the first point 
to be considered, when one has the choice, in making a 
flower garden, or in making walks to and from it, or 
all round it. In the morning, the walks should lead 
with the sun at the back of the head one way, and in 
the afternoon go round the garden the other way, and 
the light will tell also from behind. The novelty of 
this ribbon struck me blind, as it were, and until I 
could see it along the meridian, in my mind’s eye, I 
could form no judgment of how it would look; and 
I hold, that if tjie moving meridian, so to speak, were 
from half-past ten to eleven in the forenoon, the effect 
of that ribbon would be one-half more, if the effect 
could be measured, because flowers and flower gardens 
look so much better before noon than after. 
The border for the new ribbon may be over 300 feet, 
but it is not much over that, and standing nearly east 
anti west, it is seen to most advantage in the afternoon ; 
j the novelty is in having all the rows, or stripes, in 
variegated plants, but with a different tint of colour in 
j ^ ii; rows. The first row, next the walk, is to be of 
the Variegated Alyssum ; the second row of Geranium 
Brilliant, the variegated form of Tom Thumb; the 
third row will be of Floiver of the Bay Geranium, 
which is more of an orange scarlet than Brilliant ; the 
fourth row is to be of the old Variegated Scarlet 
Geranium, the one which is nearest the Nosegay style 
of truss and flower, and a different shade of scarlet 
from all the rest; and the last and back row will be of J 
Jackson s Variegated Nosegay Geranium, a true Nose¬ 
gay style of flower and truss, and a cerise shade of 
colour. 
Now, supposing that there is some dark-green low 
evergreens, or fence, along the back of the border, or 
some way of marking a distinct boundary to this varie¬ 
gated ribbon,how will it all look on its own merits? Or, 
how would you endeavour to improve it, in looks, 
without altering the style of it ? Would a border 
from 50 feet to 100 feet in length look better, or worse, 
than this one which is over 300 feet long ? Which 
would look better, a straight ribbon border from 300 feet 
to 500 feet long, or a curved border half the length, 
and the two end3 not seen at once ? There is a mean¬ 
ing, and a good deal to learn from a careful study of 
all these questions ; that is, studying for the effects of 
the different arrangements. 
The next thing is to find out the space which each 
line in the ribbon ought to occupy. When the ground 
colour is of one thing, or tint, or colour, as in this 
case, it makes very little difference in the effect, 
whether all the rows be of equal width, or not; they 
may be so, or any one of them may be twice as wide 
as any of the rest, and it is much the same way about 
the colours, as they are all of one ground tint; there¬ 
fore, there is one very strong point in favour of this 
new style, without taking the effect into consideration, 
and that is, that anyone having the plants may plant 
such a border, without having the slightest notion of 
colouring a ribbon, so to speak. To compose a ribbon 
properly, is a very difficult thing indeed ; some believe 
the thing to be the easiest style of all, and so it is, if 
the plants were all variegated, or if they were all 
green, and had the same colour, or ground colour, in 
the flowers; but when an artist comes to put five 
colours in a ribbon, and perhaps three or four more of 
tints along with them—some to contrast, as black and 
white ; and some to heighten the value of others next 
to them, as dark crimson heightens bright scarlet, not 
by the contrast, but by the blending of the two into 
one, as it were ;—I say, when that is to be done on a j 
plain border, where every inch is seen at one glance, ! 
the thing is much more difficult than doing tlie very 
same style in any shaped bed ; for we must remember , 
the fact, that whatever will do a good ribbon, will do 
a good bed exactly in the same proportions, making 
tlie back row of the ribbon the centre row in a bed, 
and then doubling each row from the centre, if the bed 
is long, or round the centre plant, if the bed is a circle. 
There is no public garden, that can be referred to, * 
where more than three colours are used in beds ; but 
in many of the first-rate private gardens, there are as 
many as seven colours blended together, and in different j 
proportions of breadth, to form one single bed. But j 
the simplest way to judge of the effect of any arrange¬ 
ment for a ribbon is, to give the mind’s eye a touch of | 
the ribbon as a separate bed; say a circle, as the best I 
and simplest bed. On the other hand, that which i 
would do an excellent bed, might be a sorry comple¬ 
ment for a ribbon; just say an ordinary bed, with 
a foot wide of Mangles s Variegated Geranium, two 
feet of scarlet Geranium, and the centre of pegged- 
down Ageratum. That bed might not look just the 
thing next to a bright purple Petunia bed, or next a 
rich yellow Calceolaria bed, but as a bed by itself no 
one could find fault with it; one might say he did not 
